Old Clip Of Airplane Ablaze In Yemen Falsely Viral as Recent Attack by Israel

This video dates back to 2015 and shows airstrikes by Saudi forces at Yemen airport destroying airplanes.

A video showing an aeroplane going up in flames is being shared on social media platforms.

Those sharing have claimed that it shows a recent attack by Israel on Yemen's Sanaa airport.

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false.

• While this video is from Sanaa airport, Yemen, it dates back to 2015 when Saudi forces attacked it.

What we found: At first, we divided the video into multiple screenshots and ran a Google reverse image search on some of them.

• We came across a video on YouTube by the Associated Press (AP) from 5 May 2015.

• Upon checking the frames of both videos, we found several similarities. One of them is displayed below.

• AP noted, "Airstrikes led by Saudi forces in Yemen destroyed airplanes at an airport in Sanaa, including a cargo jet being used to transport food and supplies into a remote part of the country. (May 4)" (sic.)

• We, then, ran relevant keyword searches and found some reports from 2015 about this incident.

• We came across an article by a magazine called Logistics Middle East from 2015 which noted, "military cargo aircraft at Yemen Sanaa International Airport has been detsroyed by Saudi-led airstrikes against Houthi fighters in Yemen." (sic.)

• Similarly, The Independent also reported about this incident in 2015 and noted that a Houthi military cargo plane was seen ablaze on the runway of Sanaa International Airport as planes from the Saudi-led coalition struck the Yemeni capital on 4 May 2015.

• A dense cloud of dark smoke lingered over the airport while local firefighters worked hard to extinguish the large blaze.

Israel strikes Sanaa airport, Yemen recently: BBC reported on 6 May 2025 that the Israeli military announced it has "completely disabled" Yemen's primary airport located in the capital Sanaa, currently under Houthi control.

• The Houthis reported that a minimum of three individuals had died and pledged to retaliate.

• This occurs two days after the Iran-supported Houthis launched a missile that struck near Israel's primary airport, causing a short closure

Conclusion: An old video showing an airplane ablaze has gone viral with a false claim that it shows Israel's recent attack on Yemen.

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